Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0278 - Russian Literature and Film

Spring
2015
1
4.00
Polina Barskova
12:30PM-03:20PM T
Hampshire College
316866
Emily Dickinson Hall 4
pbHA@hampshire.edu
In Russia, the beginning of the twenty-first century has witnessed enough change, upheaval, and controversy that we might start looking for the emergence of new modes of cultural representation. When the president of the country flies up to guide a herd of migrating cranes and dives down to discover archaeological artifacts, when the fathers of the Russian Orthodox Church focus on the interpretation of an all-girl punk group performance, when the popular protest against the Kremlin is led by popular writers and poets-how do all these and many other bewildering phenomena create texts and how do texts in turn shape them? Our course will attempt to create a map of contemporary Russian literature, exploring its institutions, major players and genres, as well as the modes of its interaction with other discourses and media. We will read novels and essays, poetry and drama; we will also contemplate the role of translation and criticism in the development of the Russian literary languages and strategies of today. Our research topics will include the ways in which Russian literature now reflects on its relationship with tradition and canon formation (just how new are much discussed movements like New Drama and New Left poetry and how do they relate to their predecessors?), the dialogue between East and West, new figurations of gender and class, of cultural and historical memory. In drawing our map, we will also explore new Russian writing in the diaspora, seeing how it creates a dialogue with-and a critique of-contemporary modes of textual production in the "metropole."
Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research In this course students are expected to spend six-ten hours weekly on preparation and work outside of class time.
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.